From left: Professor Emeritus David Meyer with undergraduate teaching award winners Brian Yuan, Nicole Wang, Kathleen Stevenson, David Nickel, Jonathan Lane, and Bryston Cotton

Purdue University’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is recognizing the efforts of undergraduate students who help out in all facets of departmental life, with annual ECE Undergrad Excellence Awards. These students help with classes as undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs), are integral parts of research groups, embark on incredible design projects, and perform all manner of service to the department through student societies and other volunteer groups. Photos from the event can be found here.

Undergraduate Teaching Awards

UTAs are a vital component of the teaching mission at Purdue. ECE has roughly 300 undergraduates who help out in classes as teaching assistants. They hold office hours, help design and grade assignments, and generally keep our classes running smoothly. The Dave & Marsha Meyer Undergraduate Teaching Awards recognize the top UTAs each semester who demonstrate exemplary performance and go above and beyond in their pursuit of excellence.

Bryston Cotton: For helping coordinate grading for ECE 20007, and giving students a non-ECE perspective on circuits labs.

Jonathan Lane: For leading a section of ECE 20008 and helping develop new content for the lab.

Nicole Wang: For stepping up as section leader for ECE 20007 and providing effective instruction to her students.

Kathleen Stevenson: For serving as lead UTA for ECE 36900 and coordinating TA scheduling and grading, and further going above and beyond in managing the class.

David Nickel: For taking on the responsibilities of a graduate TA, and for engaging in one-on-one help sessions to help students grasp difficult concepts in ECE 30100.

Brian Yuan: For going above and beyond as a UTA in ECE 26400, taking on extra responsibilities and duties.

Honorable Mentions: Seoyoung Cho and Nandini Krishna

Undergraduate Research Awards

Purdue ECE runs the largest research program of any School at Purdue, and undergraduates play key roles in our research agenda. These students design and run experiments, write papers, present results, and support our top 10-nationwide program. The Undergraduate Research Awards recognize the top undergraduate researchers, as measured by drive and accomplishment.

Darren Wu: For his work on investigating Android security, and his contributions to major projects and publications.

Xinyu Yang: For his work on astrophotography and imaging at long distances and through turbulence.

Honorable Mentions: Jacob Chappell and Puye Chen

Undergraduate Service Award

Through organizations such as the ECE Student Society and HKN, Purdue undergraduates provide camaraderie, advice, tutoring, mentoring, and coffee and donuts to the ECE community. The Undergraduate Service Award recognizes students who have performed extraordinary service to the School over the year.

Denae Galloway: For her years of service to ECE, including her service with the ECE Student Society, as an ECE Ambassador, and on the School’s Undergraduate Committee

Senior Design Awards

Senior Design is a required capstone experience which allows students to apply the knowledge they have gained from their ECE courses to a semester or year-long project. Through this project, students gain hands-on experience, enhance their written and oral technical communication skills, and develop their team work abilities. The Senior Design Awards recognize teams that achieved excellence with their projects.

Project Arbr: Gabrielle Whitis, Benjamin Pemberton, and Hugo Day

For their project “Arbr” that combines ML models and mobile development for tree identification, and their engagement with the community.

Project R.A.C.H.E.L.: James Hubbard, Micah Morefield, Jack Myers, and Bartosz Stoppel

For Project R.A.C.H.E.L’s very ambitious and technically difficult project that demonstrated excellent teaming and project management skills to complete all their goals and several stretch goals a week ahead of schedule.

It's Called (Car) Soccer: Vaishakh Deshpande, Aaryan Garg, Justin Qualley, and Peter Sperry

For their great teaming and project management on It’s Called (Car) Soccer which allowed this team to complete their project two weeks early while achieving all their project goals and most of their stretch goals for this ambitious and technically difficult project.

Guitar Multi-FX Pedal: David Nickel, Henry Oo, John Ramthun, and Michael Scirocco

For this team’s excellent work which exemplified the aspects of what ECE 49022 expects from the design process. The Guitar Multi-FX Pedal design overcame many challenges and addressed many concerns the students saw in the market.

Real Time Health Tracker: Celia Parker, Jack Detweiler, Lucas Brookes, and Juan Carlos Gaudiano

For this team’s excellent work which exemplified the aspects of what ECE 49022 expects from the design process. The Real Time Health Tracker design addresses an issue the students saw in elderly patient care by monitoring vitals and fall detection.